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Orchard of Delights Vayikra

God is good, His kindness endures forever, and from generation to ££The Creation of the World, the Ten
£The Creation of the World, the Ten The Creation of the World, the Ten
generation is His faithfulness.
Crowns, and the TCrowns, and the T
This psalm of thanksgiving is found in the section of the Morning Crowns, and the Ten Utterancesen Utterancesen Utterances
Service entitled Pesukei Dezimrah (Verses of Song). The entire
section is suffused with a joyous and grateful sense of appreciation
for the beautiful world God has given us. In the Amidah, Judaism’s A new perspective on the connection between the small alef of
quintessential prayer, acknowledgment and thanksgiving are Vayikra and Rosh Chodesh Nisan, discussed in the precious section,
interwoven, especially in the concluding blessings: emerges if we place it in the context of the Talmudic debate over
which month the world was created in: Tishrei, the month in which
We gratefully thank You, for it is You Who are God, Rosh Hashanah, the New Year of years falls, or Nisan, the month
our God and the God of our forefathers for all eternity; in which Pesach falls and which is the New Year of the months
our Rock, the Rock of our lives, Shield of our salvation (Rosh Hashanah 11a). Both sides make numerous arguments, but
are You from generation to generation. We shall thank the Talmud reaches no definitive conclusion. Rabbeinu Tam, a later
You and relate Your praise – for our lives, which are commentator, explained the underlying unity of both opinions: the
committed to Your power and for our souls that are world was created in potential in Tishrei and in actuality in Nisan.
entrusted to You; for Your miracles that are with us This sheds a totally new light on the significance of Rosh Chodesh
every day…. Everything alive will greatly acknowledge Nisan, as according to this explanation the erection of the Tabernacle
You, Selah! And praise and bless Your great name occurred on the same day in the calendar that God created the
sincerely, forever, for it is good. O God of our salvation world!
and help, Selah! The beneficent God, Blessed are You,
God, Your name is “The Beneficent One” and to You it Indeed, Rosh Chodesh Nisan’s “ten crowns,” the ten rituals first
is fitting to give thanks. performed on the day the Tabernacle was erected, are a manifestation
of the ten utterances through which God created the world. This
The Sages instituted the practice of reciting 100 blessings a day. correspondence is alluded to by Vayikra’s (“and He called”) being,
They derived this custom from a derash (a homiletic interpretation) quite literally, an utterance. Serving God gives us the strength and
of the following verse: “And now Israel, what does God your God creative ability to renew ourselves again and again, thus connecting
require of you, but to fear [be in awe] of God, your God, to walk our service of God with the power of creation itself.
in all His ways and to love him” (Deuteronomy 10:12). Employing Furthermore, building on this confluence between creation and
a play on words, the Sages noted that the phrase, “what does the Tabernacle, the mystical tradition teaches that the Tabernacle’s
God your God require of you,” begins with the Hebrew word mah construction and contents were intended to reflect the upper spiritual
(what). They read this word as me’ah (100); thus, changing the worlds. On Rosh Chodesh Nisan, God clarifies the offer He made at
verse’s meaning to “one hundred does God your God require of Mount Sinai: “And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a
you.” Since every blessing is essentially an expression of gratitude holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). At Mount Sinai, the Jewish people were
and thanks for God’s kindness, the 100 daily blessings encourage passive, but in the Tabernacle, they took an active role in partnering
a Jew to constantly recognize how grateful he or she should be to with God in the creation and maintenance of the world, and even in
God. influencing the upper worlds. The service that God invited Moses and
all Israel to partake in on the day the Tabernacle was inaugurated is

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